QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

3 km SSW of Westminster, Massachusetts

· 4.7 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Worcester County 23 kmMiddlesex County 44 kmHillsborough County 47 kmCheshire County 52 kmFranklin County 55 kmHampshire County 63 kmHampden County 72 kmNorfolk County 72 kmNortheastern Connecticut Planning Region 75 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 1.5 (ml)
Depth
4.7 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Worcester County, 23 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 359 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

Where

Epicentre 42.5171, -71.9284. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Worcester County, MA 23 km (14 mi) N of here earthquakes near Worcester County
Middlesex County, MA 44 km (27 mi) W of here earthquakes near Middlesex County
Hillsborough County, NH 47 km (29 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Hillsborough County
Cheshire County, NH 52 km (33 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Cheshire County
Franklin County, MA 55 km (34 mi) E of here earthquakes near Franklin County
Hampshire County, MA 63 km (39 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Hampshire County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

1 earthquake has been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 2.1 2 km NNW of Milford, New Hampshire

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.